Daniel TilsonJuneteenth is a too-little-known annual day of celebration and reflection observed every June 19, commemorating the actual end of American slavery in 1865.
It’s the day on which 149 years ago in Galveston, Texas, Gen. Gordon Granger and Union Army soldiers enforced the Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, by freeing all remaining slaves in the one state still refusing to obey the law.
Freed slaves burst into spontaneous celebration that day and night, and on into the rest of the month. Ever since, black Americans and freedom-loving people of all races and backgrounds across the country and the rest of the world have continued to celebrate the day in different ways, from picnics, banquets and barbecues to music festivals, cultural and educational events.
So close to July 4 and American Independence Day, observance of what could understandably be considered African American Independence Day has ebbed and flowed over the years. Post-Civil War Reconstruction pressure on blacks to be “patriotic” and focus on Fourth of July celebrations lasted quite a while. Still, Juneteenth celebrations continued and spread. Now it’s a recognized holiday observance in 41 states including Florida, and there’s a movement to make Juneteenth a full-blown national holiday.
I’m in. Makes sense to both reflect on the awful holocaust that was slavery in America, and celebrate its abolition and the freedom that followed; a perfect time to take stock of how far we’ve come on race relations, and how far we still have to go.
The in-your-face racism and segregation that black Americans suffered right through the 1950s and into the 1960s was in part remedied by the Civil Rights Act 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. What remained was the underlying racism that has lessened, but which still lives on in too many people, places and organizations in Florida, and the rest of the country.
It’s the kind of racism that leaves two thirds of black children in Florida in “low income” households, leaves 40 percent living in abject poverty, and leaves black household incomes and home ownership 20 percentage points below state averages.
It’s the kind of racism that won’t raise the minimum wage to anything close to a living wage.
It’s the kind of racism that leaves 18 percent of black children in Florida at high-risk for developmental delays, but won’t fund full-day, universal pre-K education.
It’s the kind of racism that leaves hundreds of thousands of poor black adults uninsured and at risk of death, but lets one political party get away with it in order to show up President Obama and say “No!” to Medicaid expansion.
It’s the kind of racism that has Florida’s juvenile justice and prison systems bursting with young black men, but won’t adequately fund public schools, after-care, and job training programs in the state’s most impoverished black neighborhoods.
It’s the kind of racism that lets a guy like George Zimmerman walk free, and leaves in place the law that let him.
It’s the kind of racism that continues to suppress and tamper with black Floridians’ voting rights, time after time after time.
And it’s the kind of racism that prompted the Southern Poverty Law Center, the ACLU and nearly 6,000 petitioners to call on the Florida Board of Education to stop setting significantly lower academic goals for black students than for white and Asian ones.
So…why not commemorate and spread the gospel about Juneteenth, celebrate freedom and equality; then use that freedom to raise consciousness about the ongoing inequality still plaguing our state so badly, and help fight to put an end to it.
Daniel Tilson has a Boca Raton-based communications firm called Full Cup Media, specializing in online video and written content for non-profits, political candidates and organizations, and small businesses. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
